The PNP turns 9

On May 9 last year, Police Officer 1 Jerry Abuan of the La Paz police station in Tarlac shot it out with two men who were robbing passengers on a bus in the province. Abuan was fatally wounded but managed to kill one of the suspects. Last Jan. 11, PO2 Nolie Libuit of the Philippine National Police Intelligence Group also tried to stop two men from robbing passengers of a jeepney near the Lerma Underpass in Manila. Libuit shot one of the robbers dead but the other suspect stabbed and shot the policeman, killing him.

Law enforcement can be a dangerous, often thankless job. Sometimes honors are reaped for a job well done only when a cop is no longer around to receive it. For their ultimate sacrifice, Abuan and Libuit will get posthumous awards today while their heirs may get some financial assistance from the PNP -- usually the price of a funeral and educational assistance for the children.

The two are among several policemen who have brought honor to the national police. Unfortunately for the PNP, it seems that for every Abuan and Libuit, there is a cop who brings disgrace to the service. Even as the PNP prepared to honor its heroes, criminal charges were filed against two policemen accused of involve-ment in the issuance of fake licenses to security guards. Cops are linked to corruption, drug trafficking, armed robbery, kidnapping, summary executions. And it's the scalawags, not the heroes, who get the publicity.

In the past weeks the new PNP chief, Panfilo Lacson, has made an effort to improve the organization's image, reassigning cops prone to mulcting, stopping the use of recovered stolen vehicles, arresting even ranking officers, even seeing to it that cops wear their uniforms properly. Lacson, himself a controversial policeman, is under close public scrutiny. He will have to turn the PNP into a professional, efficient force within limited resources. He will have to regain public trust in the PNP without resorting to quick fixes or law enforcement short cuts. He will have to dispel the perception that the only good cop is a dead cop.

When the novelty of the leadership change in the PNP wears off, people will look for results -- safer streets and neighborhoods, the arrest of leaders of major drug rings and car theft syndicates. There is much work to do in the PNP as it marks its ninth anniversary.